This is probably the swan song of the Porno-Chic wave in Fashion advertising: the new Gucci ad is intended, as usual, to shock the reader, but boy, the reader is tired, the models look tired, the photographer seems tired, and let's not talk about the clothes.

Gucci Group NV said its fiscal third-quarter net profit fell 14% and that it doesn't expect any rebound soon amid what Chief Executive Domenico De Sole called a "very volatile" market.

Net profit at the world's third-largest luxury-goods company totaled €52.9 million ($54.3 million) for the latest quarter, which ended Oct. 31, in line with the reduced expectations that followed Gucci's warning last week that its full-year per-share earnings would be 22% lower than anticipated.

In other words: the shock tactics of M. De Sole and M. Tom Ford are not working, at least not this time.

More revealing (no pun intended), Mm DeSole &Ford other company, YSL, dropped its infamous "Opium" ad, in which model Sophie Dahl was photographed nude, legs wide open. According to figures in the French Perfume industry, the ad performed "very, very badly". During the Christmas season, executives decided to drop Ms Dahl for a close-up of the perfume bottle. The sales surged 17%.

So enjoy your Gucci ad this month - it might be the last of its kind.